Morton, Wilson named Most Valuable Athletes on final day of MVC Outdoor Championships

Friday, May 12

Normal, Ill.

10 a.m. / 10:30 a.m. / 10 a.m.

University of Northern Iowa

MVC Outdoor Championships

2023 MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships | Redbird Track & Field Complex (Normal, Ill.)

Photo by: Illinois State Athletics

Morton, Wilson named Most Valuable Athletes on final day of MVC Outdoor Championships

5/14/2023 8:40:00 PM | Track and Field

FINAL RESULTS CHAMPIONSHIP HUB PHOTO GALLERY Photo Gallery

UNI men finish with seven wins to take second place. Panther women take home fourth place.

NORMAL, Ill. — UNI track and field capped an active final day at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Outdoor Championships on Sunday with victories in five events at the Redbird Track and Field Complex.

The Panthers conclude this year's conference championships with the men's team surging to an impressive second place finish with 171.5 points, marking the ninth straight outdoor season UNI has finished within the top-three. UNI claimed fourth place on the women's side with 87 points for a fourth straight year. Indiana State walked away with the men's team title, while host Illinois State took the women's team championship.

For their outstanding efforts, two Panthers were recognized with additional awards. Carter Morton, who was named the MVC's Most Valuable Men's Athlete at February's indoor conference championships, repeated the men's MVP honor in the spring after scoring 30.5 points during the weekend. Morton is the first MVC athlete to earn both indoor and outdoor men's MVP honors since Southern Illinois' Kyle Landon in 2017.

Makenna Wilson's dominant weekend in the throwing circle earned the Charleston, Illinois native Most Valuable Women's Athlete recognition after scoring 24 points for UNI. Wilson is the first women's MVP since Paige Knodle in 2016.

UNI's excellent afternoon kicked off as the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Tinashe Chigudu, Luke Meyers, Trousil and Deonte Dean set a new UNI, conference championship and facility record in 39.62 seconds. The Panthers have won the relay a record 12 times, and have clinched the title in six of the last 12 seasons. UNI's women's 4x100-meter relay of Madelyn Sanda, Rylan Santi, Jill Bennett and Libby Wedewer clocked the fifth-fastest time in school history, taking fourth place in 45.62 seconds.

Trousil's big day continued as the West Burlington, Iowa native clocked a career-best time of 10.07 second in the 100-meter dash, just 0.02 second off a new program record. Trousil is the first Panther to win the MVC men's 100 meters since Carnes won four straight from 2014-17. Chigudu finished close behind in third place in career-best fashion (10.35) and Dean in sixth (10.57).

In the men's 200 meters, Trousil came up big again with another personal-best performance with a time of 20.61 seconds to win gold with the third-fastest mark in program history. With the win, Trousil becomes the fifth different individual to sweep the 100 and 200 meters at the MVC Outdoor Championships since the turn of the century. Dean finished just behind Trousil in second place with a career-best time (21.07), with Chigudu in fifth (21.33).

Jack Sumners narrowly edged out Indiana State's Luigi Rivas by 0.01 seconds to capture first place in the men's 110-meter hurdles in 13.98 second. Sumners is the first Panther to win the event since Connor Ham in 2019.

With the pole vault competition moved indoors, Brendan Safley didn't give an inch to his opponents as the Panther redshirt sophomore won his first-ever conference title with a career-best vault of 5.15 meters. Safely becomes the first UNI vaulter to win the event since Daniel Gooris in 2013. Morton capped his busy weekend by earning silver in the men's triple jump with a leap of 15.04 meters.

Wilson finished her 2023 MVC Championships with a second place performance in the discus throw, launching a career-best of 50.04 meters. Onal Mitchell placed third in the men's 400-meter finals (47.77), while Auriona Kimbrough took eighth in the women's 400 meters. Redshirt senior Paige Holub took home sixth place in the women's mile, clocking a time of 4:36.04.

Running in the 400-meter hurdle finals, Bill Mukhtar (54.69) and Brody Lovell (54.69) both notched personal-bests placing fourth and fifth respectively, while Grant Rickertsen finished in seventh place with a time of 57.10 seconds. Darci Wiseman finished in fifth place in the women's 40- meter hurdles with a personal-best mark of 1:03.43.

Chase Knoche earned a runner-up finish in the men's 800 meters in a time of 1:51.40, as Jayden Dickson and Drake Hanson went seventh and eighth respectively. Emily Vos placed sixth in the women's 200-meter finals (24.68), as Emma Hoins clocked a career-best with a 36 second time drop in the women's 5,000-meter run with 17:11.03.

UNI's men's 4x400-meter relay of Mitchell, Meyers, Hanson, and Knoche closed the meet out with a third place finish in 3:18.27. The Panther women took sixth place as Erin Kerkhoff, Bennett, Vos and Kimbrough clocked a 3:52.85.

UP NEXT
The Panthers begin training for the NCAA West Preliminary meet to be held May 24-27 at Hornets Stadium in Sacramento, California. The top-48 individual and relay performers in the west qualifying area in each event (minus the heptathlon/decathlon) all qualify, with the top-12 finishers advancing to the NCAA Championships to be held in Austin, Texas at Mike A. Meyers Stadium, June 7-10.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Women's Discus Throw